That's Where You Are

It's only been four days since my last post, but I figure why waste the wonderful facilities at the Texas County Public Library in Houston, Missouri.

Yes, we are now in Missouri and we have left the windy plains of Kansas. Flat tires have now surpassed a bad hair day on Wes's list of things he hates most in life and the heat that was with us in Kansas has followed us here (heat index of 105). For the past week the NWS has issued heat advisories for Kansas and Missouri, telling people it would be wise to remain indoors. Pfft, heat advisory. We've been averaging 100+ miles a day. Yeah, it's okay, you can say it, we're pro (and kinda stupid).

As I mentioned before we've begun meeting many bikers heading west. We pull to the side of the road, chat for a few minutes exchange stories and warnings of what lies ahead of each other then continue on. It's a nice break from riding and great to meet other cyclists on the route.

Many of the warnings we've received have had to do with one of three things, the Ozarks, the Appalachians, and mean dogs. Well, we're in the Ozarks, and I can say that those warnings were an exaggeration, but we're talk about that in a second. As far as the Appalachians, I'm sure their tough, but we're gonna be so close to the end at that point, I can't see "tough" keeping us from pushing on. And lastly about the dogs...well, we'll see. We've actually heard some pretty bad stories, but no one we've met has gotten bit, just chased.

We left Newton and headed to Toronto Lake a little over 100 miles away and camped at a great campsite there. From Toronto Lake we pushed to Pittsburg where we stayed at a great city park and went swimming at the city pool. Yesterday we crossed the Missiouri border, and stayed the night in Fair Grove at the Fair Grove Historical Society's facilities (they allow bikers to stay for free). We met three cyclists heading west who were also staying in Fair Grove who we chatted with for quite a while. It was an American, an Englishman, and an Australian, who had met up on the road and continued biking together. They pointed out places on the map where there might be some dogs on our route today and techniques for dealing with them (dismount and pet, ride for your life, throw rocks, pepper spray...personally I thought the pepper spray a little too much). Now we're in Houston, we decided to make it an easy day and only do 78 miles.

Now let's talk about the Ozarks. The best way to describe them is a rollercoaster, but better because you're driving and you don't have to worry about the 12 year old sitting behind you who may have had too much cotton candy. Once you get up the first hill, your momentum usually carries you up the next and so on and so forth.

While biking today, we came up to a place on the map where our friends from last night had said there was the potential of a dog attack. We usually ride a couple miles apart, each kinda maintaining their own pace, but we decided to group for this portion of the journey. We rounded the curve where the beast was supposedly lying in wait. For effect I cried, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more," figuring Shakespeare was appropriate (I'm a little strange). I think we all had images of the dog from Sandlot in our heads. We got all psyched up for nothing, our progress remained unimpeded, and we were disappointed. We even tried whistling to see if that would bring out the hound, but alas nothing.

Each day brings it's own trouble, whether it's bad wind, flat tires, mean dogs, or just terrible heat. At times you find yourself thinking that if it just wasn't so hot, the day would be perfect. We humans spend a lot of time worrying about the things that go wrong and how they ruin our potentially perfect day. No day will ever be perfect. If life were perfect, there would be no need for heaven. Nah, better to enjoy where you're at. Contentment comes a lot easier than perfection, I think that's the thing I've been learning the most this trip.

I'd like to leave you with a two quotes. The first, I read on a wall in a Mom & Pop Restaurant: "No matter where you ride, that's where you are." The other is from one of my favorite authors, "People complain about the bad things that happen to em that they dont deserve but they seldom mention the good. About what they done to deserve them things. I don't recall I ever give the good Lord all that much cause to smile on me. But he did."